OAKLAND UNIVERSITY >> The reunification is complete. The great wall of Oakland County has been broken down. The University of Detroit Mercy has finally played at nearby rival Oakland’s O’rena for the first time since many of today’s players were just sharpening the skills.

After a long wait, the series which stagnated for a decade is now red-hot.

The Golden Grizzlies sent their visitors home steaming mad Friday, escaping for an 83-82 win in overtime, giving Oakland (10-17, 5-7 Horizon) the season sweep against the Titans (12-15, 5-7).

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“This team is going to be known for this,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “When I talk to future teams about this, it will be about how they rose to the challenge. This is the standard this team set.”

The coach, in his 30th year at the Rochester-area school, wasn’t shy about his desire to beat his new, old rival.

Kampe has long said the Titans once prevented Oakland from joining them in the Horizon League in recent years. The bad blood between the teams made it difficult to schedule a rematch at the O’rena, which Kampe felt he was owed. When Oakland joined the Horizon League in the offseason, fans began to count down to the program’s two meetings.

So a game between two sub-.500 teams that likely wold not stand out among other “Rivalry Week” offerings drew a standing-room-only crowd, a record 4,065, at the O’rena. ESPNU even carried the game, the second national broadcast from the Rochester-area campus.

The excitement leading up to the game, which Kampe noted, was not lessened by the fact 2,000 Oakland fans had already made their way down I-75 to legendary Calihan Hall for the team’s first meeting this season, Jan. 11.

“It’s never been this full, this loud or this much excitement leading up to a game,” Kampe said.

Senior Travis Bader, who hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 26 seconds remaining in regulation, called the atmosphere “insane.”

“When you have two teams this close, you’re fighting for Detroit,” he said. “This is what college basketball is all about.”

The first meeting came down to the wire, but it wasn’t this close.

The Titans jumped out to a quick five-point lead in overtime, before Oakland freshman Kahlil Felder, a Detroit native who had a triple-double with 15 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, kept Oakland within striking distance from the free-throw line. He hit a pair of freebies with 2:49 to go before gathering a defensive rebound and scoring on a lay-in to pull the Golden Grizzlies within one with 2:08 to play in overtime.

There would be no more scoring until Oakland guard Duke Mondy made his only field goal of the game, collecting himself after tipping a missed Bader 3-pointer to himself, and making the game-winning free-throw line jumper with 11 seconds to play.

The win is just Oakland’s third in the all-time series, as it now trails the Titans, 11-3. It also helps Oakland’s dwindling chances at hosting at game in the upcoming conference tournament.

“I couldn’t care less about the league tonight,” Kampe said. “I wanted to sweep Detroit.”

Felder plans to take the emotional victory, Oakland’s third by just one point at home this season, into Sunday’s home game against Wright State, and beyond.

“This game was a stepping stone for the rest of the season,” he said.

The remainder of the regular season consists of just four more games, but there could soon be another chapter in the rivalry with Detroit, as the teams could even meet again in next month’s conference tournament, with home-court advantage going to the higher-seeded team.

If they do indeed meet again this season, it would just be fitting for two teams who had to wait more than a decade to play each other in the first place.

About the Author

Paul Kampe covers the Rochester area for The Oakland Press. He has also worked as online coordinator, a page designer/copy editor and preps sports writer. Reach the author at paul.kampe@oakpress.com
or follow Paul on Twitter: @PaulKampe.